sheikh- This means the leader of each Arabic tribe. They are chosen from leading families by a council of elders.
Quran- This is the holy book of the religion Islam. It means peace through submission to the will of God, or Allah.
jihad- Fair, defensive warfare permitted by the Quran. It means struggle in the way of God, or Allah.
Shiite- This is the group of Muslims that only accepts descendents of Ali as their rulers. They are a minority and are mostly found in Iran.
Sunni- The group of Muslims that accepts the Umayyads as rulers. This group is the majority of Muslims and are found in most Middle Eastern countries.
Quran
The holy book of Islam
People
Muhammad- He was the founder of the religion Islam. He wrote the Quran as it was dictated to him by a heavenly presence.
Abu Bakr- He was Muhammad's father-in-law, and his successor. He helped the Islamic movement grow during his years of rule.
Ali- He was Muhammad's son-in-law, Abu Bakr's successor, who was assassinated after ruling for 5 years.
Mu'awiyah- He was one of Ali's rivals. He established the Umayyad dynasty when he became the caliph in 661.
Hussain- He was the son of Ali, and led a revolt against Umayyad rule in 680. It was unsuccessful.
Overview Arabs began as a Semitic-speaking people living in the desert-filled Arabian Peninsula. They were nomads because there weren't many permanant water or food sources, forcing them to move around with their animals. The Arabs, to help each other, formed into tribes led by sheikhs.They lived as shepherds and farmers in the less arid parts of the peninsula, and traded in caravans after the camel was domesticated. Early Arabs were polytheistic, like the Greeks and early Romans. They believed that they were descended from Abraham's son, Ishmael. They revered the city Makkah because they thought Abraham and Ishmael built a house of worship with a sacred stone as its cornerstone there. The Arab world changed when Muhammad, the son of a merchant family, was disturbed by the lack of honesty and generosity in the rich traders. During one of his visits to the hills to meditate on this, Muhammad believed he recieved messages from God through the angel Gabriel. From these messages, he wrote the Quran and formed the religion Islam. He went home and told his wife, Khadija, about his experience. She became the first convert to Islam. Muhammad's work was slow going, though. After 3 years, he had only 30 followers, so he became discouraged and moved north to the city of Yathrib in 622. The year of this journey, the Hijrah, became the first year in the Islamic calandar. He gained more support in Yathrib as he became a political and religious leader, and soon, in 630, returned to Makkah with 10,000 men. The city surrendered and converted to Islam, and Muhammad declared the Kaaba, the house of worship supposedly built by Abraham, to be a sacred shrine of Islam. Two years later, Muhammad died. After Muhammad's death, there was some confusion as to who would succeed him. Finally, it was decided by some of his closest followers that Muhammad's father-in-law, Abu Bakr, would be named caliph, successor to Muhammad. Abu Bakr led the Muslims to expand across and beyond Arabia. He unified the Arabs against their neighbors and defeated military powers that they were previously unable to win against. When Abu Bakr died, the three caliphs after him were assassinated. However, after the third, Muhammad's son-in-law, was assassinated, a Syrian governor became caliph. He made the office of caliph run in his own family to create the Umayyad dynasty. The Umayyad dynasty comqurered the Berbers and most of Spain. Finally, the Arab conquerors could expand no further. Muhammad Links
This site is full of facts about the religion of Islam.
This site tells about the styles and requirements of Muslim clothing.
Sadie and Dylan
“Four things support the world: the learning of the wise, the justice of the great, the prayers of the good, and the valor of the brave” -Muhammad
A map that shows how far the Arab Empire spread.
A Symbol of Islam
View Sunni Islam and over 3,000,000 other topics on Qwiki.
Terms
Quran
People
Overview
Arabs began as a Semitic-speaking people living in the desert-filled Arabian Peninsula. They were nomads because there weren't many permanant water or food sources, forcing them to move around with their animals. The Arabs, to help each other, formed into tribes led by sheikhs.They lived as shepherds and farmers in the less arid parts of the peninsula, and traded in caravans after the camel was domesticated. Early Arabs were polytheistic, like the Greeks and early Romans. They believed that they were descended from Abraham's son, Ishmael. They revered the city Makkah because they thought Abraham and Ishmael built a house of worship with a sacred stone as its cornerstone there.
The Arab world changed when Muhammad, the son of a merchant family, was disturbed by the lack of honesty and generosity in the rich traders. During one of his visits to the hills to meditate on this, Muhammad believed he recieved messages from God through the angel Gabriel. From these messages, he wrote the Quran and formed the religion Islam. He went home and told his wife, Khadija, about his experience. She became the first convert to Islam. Muhammad's work was slow going, though. After 3 years, he had only 30 followers, so he became discouraged and moved north to the city of Yathrib in 622. The year of this journey, the Hijrah, became the first year in the Islamic calandar. He gained more support in Yathrib as he became a political and religious leader, and soon, in 630, returned to Makkah with 10,000 men. The city surrendered and converted to Islam, and Muhammad declared the Kaaba, the house of worship supposedly built by Abraham, to be a sacred shrine of Islam. Two years later, Muhammad died.
After Muhammad's death, there was some confusion as to who would succeed him. Finally, it was decided by some of his closest followers that Muhammad's father-in-law, Abu Bakr, would be named caliph, successor to Muhammad. Abu Bakr led the Muslims to expand across and beyond Arabia. He unified the Arabs against their neighbors and defeated military powers that they were previously unable to win against. When Abu Bakr died, the three caliphs after him were assassinated. However, after the third, Muhammad's son-in-law, was assassinated, a Syrian governor became caliph. He made the office of caliph run in his own family to create the Umayyad dynasty. The Umayyad dynasty comqurered the Berbers and most of Spain. Finally, the Arab conquerors could expand no further.
Muhammad
Links
A Mosque